Posted by M.S. on May 10, 2009
I was flabbergasted while reading an article in the Wall Street Journal the other day regarding the luxury French fashion house, Hermes International, and how business is booming on ultra expensive designer items. Hermes Sales Benefit from Exclusivity
According to the Wall Street Journal article, Kasia Al Thani owns 18 versions of the $7,000 Birkin handbag made by Hermès and is on waiting lists for two more bags, including one in white crocodile skin.
“When I see other women carrying a Birkin in a color that I want, I get bag envy,” says the 32-year-old chief executive of luxury retail Web site savoir-faire.com. “The more you can’t have something, the more you want it.” Al Thani said. My head was spinning!
I had recently read an article in USA Today about a marvelous website called WishUponaHero.com where people can donate online to directly help people with needs of various types. Website Connects Needy to the Charitable. The article stated that increasingly, requests are being placed for the basics of life, including groceries and gas money, along with pleas for help with medical bills and utilties payments!
The cost of those 18 outrageously expensive ultra-luxury handbags comes to $126,000! Think about how much food or medicine that could provide for sick and hungry little kids! Imagine how many people could be helped if the money was put to a higher use and what an impact that type of investment could have on the world!
The profound irony of this comment about the designer handbags really struck me “The more you can’t have something, the more you want it.” I bet that’s the same thing mothers are saying about having NO food or medicine for their children, and what poor and elderly people are saying about an expensive medical procedure they cannot afford!
What an impact even the cost of even one $7,000 Hermes bag could have on those people’s lives!
The rush gotten from knowing you have helped people should last a lot longer than the thrill from carrying the latest extravagant fashion accessory.
Posted by M.S. on May 8, 2009
Do you think it is possible for a garden of wildflowers to help you gain enormous wealth? Well, that is just what happened to me many years ago when one Spring I planted a cutting garden. A magazine article had piqued my interest about the ease of using seeds of this type to plant a garden that would give me an abundance of free flowers. These colorful bouquets would add color and fragrance throughout our home.
Each year I see ads for flower packet seeds for 10 cents a piece, so I knew that it wouldn’t cost much to get started. After preparing the soil a bit, I raked in the seeds and within weeks–flowers began to bloom.
One marvelous characteristic of wildflowers that you may not know is that the more you cut them- the more they bloom! Soon, my home was overflowing with fragrant bouquets! I began to ponder who would enjoy the abundance of these fabulous flowers as much as I did. Then I had an inspiration!
My dad had suffered a stroke and was living in a nursing home in another city far away from where I lived, in another country at the time. I had learned how much he valued his visits from friends and family and I decided since I couldn’t visit him as often as I would like, I would take flowers to folks at a local nursing home! I decided to purchase inexpensive vases at garage sales which I would leave in individual resident’s rooms, and re-fill them with fresh flowers each week.
What an impact that simple act of kindness had on folks that really could use a distraction! I quickly learned how much they cherished our weekly visits, even more than the fresh bouquets. What the elderly folks wanted more than anything was to have someone listen to their stories and whatever was on their minds. For the entire week, the vase of flowers was a reminder to them that someone was thinking of them.
The powerful lesson I learned in this experience is that kindness is FREE, yet priceless, and that all the money in the world does not replace the value of human interaction and compassion.
Each week as I walked out of the nursing home, I reflected on the real wealth I had.
I had a marvelous family, I was healthy, I could walk, I could talk, and I had the extreme good fortune of living in the United States– the place where people would crawl on cut glass, just for the opportunity to live in this great country!
Any of the residents at the nursing home would have traded all the money in the world for what I had for FREE!
It is good to remember that having money is great, but true wealth is the abundance of blessings you have in your life now! Maybe in these tough times, a cutting garden could help your perspective too!
Get Started on Your Garden Here
Posted by M.S. on April 28, 2009
The other day, my 23 year old daughter called me to ask the name of the bagel shop where I get fabulous sun dried tomato bagels because she wanted some of them. I gave her the name of the local bakery and told her they have bins off to the side marked “Last Night’s Bagels” and they are half price.
In my typical frugal fashion I said “Get them out of that bin and ask if they’ll give you 2 packages for $ 2.49” ! She said Ok–I will try. She was amazed! They gave her 12 bagels for $ 2.49– Just for asking!
I discovered this bargain several months ago, when I was in the bagel shop and spotted this bin. I decided to give it a try and buy a package of 6 bagels for $2.49. I had become reluctant to pay the outrageous higher price of $ 1.29 for ONE “fresh” bagel, so I thought– Hey, how BAD can they be?
When I got to the cash register that first time, the lady took one look at me, dressed in my garage sale appropriate clothes after a long morning of scouring yard sales and she said–You know what? Right now they are 2 Packages for $ 2.49! I got the message! She thought I was POOR– so she was going to help me out and give me extra bagels for FREE!
I said Well alrighty then and grabbed another sleeve of 6 yummy bagels! I got 12 bagels for a grand total cost of $ 2.49! That’s 21 cents per bagel!
That saved me over $ 12 for 12 bagels! That’s $ 12 free money–that I didn’t have to earn by working!
We lightly toasted the bagels and they made fabulous sandwiches! They were great! There was NOTHING wrong with them! Now every time I go to the bagel shop–I ask them –Could I have 2 packages of day old bagels for $ 2.49? They ALWAYS say YES!
Try it next time you have a taste for bagels!
Be generous and get a whole bunch of the bagels and donate them to the food pantry so other people can enjoy them too!
Posted by M.S. on April 27, 2009
There was a really fascinating show on Dateline MSNBC last night entitled “You Might Be Rich“. According to the program, there is estimated to be more than $30 billion of unclaimed property sitting in state treasuries all over the United States!
The government doesn’t have the resources to track people down, so the money remains unclaimed. The program featured the story of a woman named Betty that had shown kindness to a wealthy elderly man she knew in New Orleans, where they lived. As it turned out, when Albert died, he left Betty $237,000 and she didn’t know about it!! Her kindness had really paid off for her!
It is worth taking a little time to investigate if there’s any money out there for you, don’t you think? I know I will… A few minutes of searching may really pay off for me! Who knows– Maybe it’s my lucky day!
There is also a great lesson here! Your kind gestures may reap you rich financial rewards! At the very least, you will feel really good about yourself and that is free!
Read the whole article here You Might Be Rich
